Rachael Braun

If you love roasted vegetables, either on their own or incorporated into other dishes, you’ll find lots of recipes here on VegKitchen. Exposing uncooked vegetables to high temperatures (similar to what happens on the grill) draws the natural sugars to the surface, heightening their flavors. And the aroma that permeates your kitchen in the process is intoxicating! more→

A few are a bit fancier, with two or more layers or precooked ingredients, but even those look simple to accomplish. Each and every one of this book’s recipes includes a color photo, some featuring really adorable kids enjoying the ice pops. more→

Vegan dessert recipes — cookies, cakes, brownies, pies, and ice cream — sure have grown up over the last few years! Here is VegKitchen’s wide array of all kinds of sweet treats. If you’re looking specifically for gluten-free vegan desserts, we’ve got plenty of those too. You’ll find them listed at the end of the long listing of recipes on the Gluten-Free Vegan Recipespage. more→

Delicious, vegan, raw, gluten-free, soy-free and easy to make meals…sounds hard to do but Amber Shea Crawley has done it in her book Practically Raw: Flexible Raw Recipes Anyone Can Make*(Vegan Heritage Press, 2012). Every recipe gets you excited to make and enjoy it. What’s different about this book is that it presents both raw and cooked and baked options, all fairly easy, with additional substitutions and variations throughout. more→

Reviewed by Rachael Braun. Looking for easy, down-to-earth vegan recipes that are delicious and fun to make? Look no further then The Sexy Vegan Cookbook: Extraordinary Food from an Ordinary Dude* (New World Library, 2012) by Brian L. Patton. It is filled with 100 recipes that will please anyone’s palate, vegan or not. Photo above courtesy of VegNews.

This cookbook is entertaining and useful, with original names for all the recipes and tips, definitions and facts scattered throughout. And if you ever think you need a little extra help with a recipe, Patton has provided QR codes that you can scan with your phone to see a video of The Sexy Vegan himself demonstrating the recipe for you. more→

Reviewed by Rachael Braun. This book is packed with everything you need to know about gluten-free vegan cooking.The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Gluten-Free Vegan Cooking* (Alpha Books, 2011) by Julieanna Hever and Beverly Lynn Bennett starts by giving you an amazing overview of gluten intolerance, where to find hidden gluten, and the benefits of a vegan diet.

It can be hard to have one dietary restriction, but with two in the mix, things can get complicated. This book will give you a new view on all you can do and make it apparent that you need never feel deprived! There are so many ingredients you can create delicious and nutritious meals with.

Want cookbooks that are like having a good friend helping you out in the kitchen? Look no further than Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Foodby Alicia C. Simpson (The Experiment, 2009) and Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations* (The Experiment, 2010). Alicia got tired of starving at parties with no vegan options and not being able to enjoy those great ‘down-home’ comfort foods she grew up with. You can’t ask for more with these two cookbooks, Alicia makes vegan cooking non-intimidating and comfortable. more→

Whether you’re just starting out on a vegan diet or are already a fan of plant-based meals, 500 Vegan Dishes* (Sellers Publishing, 2011) is a great go-to book for vegan substitutions and tons of recipes. Deborah Gray offers information and recipes in a highly readable format. She starts out by giving an introduction with a brief overview and jumps into ingredients, listed alphabetically and with great tips, along with charts of cooking times and descriptions. Another helpful section within the ingredients are the recipes and tips on animal-free substitutions, like almond and coconut milk, nondairy cream cheese and mayonnaise. more→

Packed with nutrients, cranberries are healthy and delicious, making dishes pop with flavor. They also can take many forms: juice, sauce, jam, dried and of course, fresh. When fresh, they pack a punch of tartness that overpowers their sweetness, but if you can get over the bite, it’s worth it. This “superfruit” is full of antioxidants and really good for you!Harvested between September and December, cranberries grow on short, thin vines and also bloom flowers and ‘spikes.’ They start out white, and as they mature turn to their better known deep red color. Almost 95 percent of cranberries grown are used for fruit juice; the other 5 percent are sold fresh and raw. more→

After months of migraines, my hands and feet going numb, stomach in knots and extreme dizziness and fatigue I found out I had gluten intolerance. And going gluten-free after 25 years of eating “normally” was and still is one of the hardest things I have ever done. I have been gluten-free for about four months now, and I am still finding it tough. more→

Changing your diet can change your life, and Meg Wolff is proof of that. A Life in Balance: Delicious Plant-based Recipes for Optimal Health* tells her story and provides an arsenal of recipes and tips for enjoying healthy, flavorful and economic meals. Eating a diet of whole grains, beans, vegetables and fruits can prevent and reverse chronic disease. more→